Unpacking the Middle Class: Political Dynamics and Historical Context

On Arno Mayer's "The Lower Middle Class as Historical Problem".

We kick off the third block of the 2024/25 Reading Club, which is dedicated to the question of the middle class:

The abatement of class struggle between workers and owners has shone a light on the role of the middle classes. Beyond the resurgence of the debate around the much-maligned professional-managerial class (PMC), what is the true role of the middle class in politics and society? Who rules today – and how would we go about answering that question?

In this episode we discuss:

• Is the lower middle class still the main recipient/consumer of popular culture?

• Is the condition of the lower middle class in fact universalised across society today?

• Is the lower middle class a "classless class"?

• Is this class united or in fact divided? Is is the main site of political contestation today? Of culture wars?

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Links:

• The Lower Middle Class as Historical Problem, Arno Mayer

• Regime Crisis: The Persistence of Arno J. Mayer, Verso Books blog